Xi Jinping has grasped a fundamental truth in his quest to win the technology race – that internet companies are all ultimately disposable
This is story of two parallel universes. Over in the western one, neoliberal capitalism rules. In the other – the Chinese universe – a different system presides. In both universes, government concern over the growing power of giant tech companies has been growing for a while, but there the similarities end.
In the west, governments and legislatures were asleep at the wheel as the tech companies zoomed along their rapid growth paths. But in the past few years, democratic institutions have belatedly lumbered into action, or at any rate into a semblance of activity. Since 2010, for example, Europe has launched more than 36 regulatory probes against big tech, including 10 from the European commission and 26 from individual European countries. I keep a spreadsheet of these actions, which, in addition to the EU suits, currently lists seven major actions by US authorities, three by the UK Competition and Markets Authority and two by the German federal cartel office. And it seems that there are about 70 such actions in progress across the world.